Regarding the capture of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Korean vessel,'Korea Chemie', a spokesman for the Iranian government insisted that "the Korean government is holding 7 billion dollars, or about 7.6 trillion won, as hostages."
Iranian government spokesman Ali Ravieri said at an online press conference yesterday, dismissing allegations that Iran's capture of Korean ships constitutes hostage play.
A spokesman for Ravieri said, "We have recently been criticized for being a'hostage play' in relation to the capture of Korean ships. It is Korea that is holding $7 billion in Iranian funds as hostage."
He criticized, "If there were hostages here, it would be the Korean government that froze over 7 billion dollars of our funds for unfounded reasons."
He said, "Despite the difficult circumstances of the Iranian people, they are denying Iran's access to items such as medicines that are not subject to sanctions for unfounded excuses."
"They did not make any additional efforts to make Iranian people accessible to our funds."